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Scottish poet in the early nineteenth century From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Christian Gray (1772 – circa 1830) was a Scottish poet. Blind from a young age, Gray was known as the "blind poet" and wrote in both Scots and English. She published two volumes of poems in a variety of genres, including political, religious, and autobiographical.
Christian Gray | |
---|---|
Born | 1772 Aberdalgie, Perthshire |
Died | 1830 Aberdalgie, Perthshire |
Language | English, Scots |
Nationality | Scottish |
Christian Gray was born by April 1772 in Aberdalgie, Perthshire.[1] Her family had been farmers for generations;[2] she was the eldest of two children who survived to adulthood.[1]
Gray lost her eyesight in childhood after falling ill with smallpox.[3] She had passages of the Bible and poetry read to her often, and she knitted while walking in nature.[2][3] Her neighbors provided assistance after her parents died, and she lived in a cottage provided by the Earl of Kinnoull.[2]
Scottish historian Peter Robert Drummond visited Gray around 1827 and featured a chapter on her in Perthshire in Bygone Days: One Hundred Biographical Essays; he writes that she lived "a number of years" after his visit.[1]
Gray wrote in both Scots and English on a range of topics, including marriage, slavery, religion, war, and her own blindness.[3][4] Some of her poems were written in response to well-known Scots songs.[1] She composed poems in her head and recited them from memory until a visitor would write them down for her, often the schoolmaster of Aberdalgie.[3][2] Her poem "The Victims of War," published in 1811, describes a doomed pair: Julia follows her lover Alexis to war, where he is shot and killed, and Julia endures hardships in her return to England.[5] Another poem, "Bessy Bell and Mary Gray, a Legendary Tale," reflects on Gray's intellectual and literary growth.[6]
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